


Definitely Not

by Celianna



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M, momokai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-07
Updated: 2012-04-07
Packaged: 2017-11-03 04:57:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celianna/pseuds/Celianna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People start to suspect that Momoshiro and Kaidoh are dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We're Not

**Author's Note:**

> Rating for swearing. MomoKai fluff, my personal favourite. More MomoKai can be found under my name.

Going to the movies is a fun way to spend time. Going to the movies with a certain snake wasn’t really his ideal way to spend time at the movies. Especially since he dared Momoshiro to watch it with him, saying he’ll cry his eyes out like a little baby if he saw the movie called The Boy and His Dog. Well, Momoshiro just _had_ to go and prove him wrong of course, he doesn’t cry at all. Momoshiro is manly and doesn’t shed tears at stupid movies about dogs.

Which is why he’s totally not crying right now. Totally not.

“You are such a cry baby,” remarks Kaidoh.

Momoshiro quickly wipes his watery eyes, hiding half his face with his sleeve. They just finished watching the movie, and are exiting the theater.

“Am not,” sputters Momoshiro.

“Then why were you crying, huh? Dumbass.”

“I wasn’t crying!”

Kaidoh pulls Momoshiro’s jacket, yanking him towards him, so that he’s forced to face the damn snake. Momoshiro tries to look as dignified as possible while snot is coming out of his nose and his eyes are puffed up and red. Damnit, stupid Mamushi with his stupid tragedy movie.

“You _are_ crying!”

“I’ve just got something in my eye, I’m not crying, damnit!”

Kaidoh lets go of his jacket, and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Crybaby,” he says.

“Asshole,” Momoshiro replies. They’re quiet for five long minutes, until Momoshiro thinks about the ending again and he bursts into tears. “Whyyy? Why’d the dog have to die!? It’s so unfair! Poor Mr. Dingo!”

Kaidoh snickers at him, then punches Momoshiro’s arm. “There’s going to be a sequel, you know?”

“NO! Unless Mr. Dingo comes back to life—I don’t want to see it!”

“You are such a crybaby,” Kaidoh says again.

“Damnit Mamushi, I’ve got something in my eye, ‘tis all!”

Kaidoh snickers and laughs at him the entire way home. Bastard. He’ll get revenge for this.

 

**oOo**

“Are you eating those?” asks Momoshiro excitedly as he points his finger to Kaidoh’s portion of fries.

Kaidoh shoves the carton full of fries towards Momoshiro. “You are disgusting, did you know that?”

Momoshiro starts grabbing Kaidoh’s fries and stuffs them in his mouth. “Disgusting? This is delicious!” he says with his mouth full.

Kaidoh winces at the sight. “I said _you’re_ disgusting. Not the food. Well, the food is as well—I can’t believe you can eat this crap.”

Momoshiro swallows. “I’ll eat anything. I don’t discriminate, unlike you.”

“I know what good food tastes like, unlike some dumbass I know,” hisses Kaidoh.

“No, you just don’t know what you’re missing,” says Momoshiro. He pops in another fry in his mouth before biting down on his 5th hamburger.

“Disgusting,” repeats Kaidoh.

“Shut up, Mamushi.” Momoshiro chews on his burger, then he remembers why they were even eating together. Kaidoh had wanted to talk to him about the tennis trip they were planning with the rest of the club, and Momoshiro dragged him to WcDonalds to do so. “So, did you call for the reservations?”

“Yeah, I did last weekend. I’ve got four rooms booked for two days.”

“Is there a hot spring?” asks Momoshiro, suddenly interested now.

Kaidoh looks at him leery-eyed. “Yes.”

“Awesome! A hot spring! A real Japanese hot spring!”

“This is not some sort of vacation, idiot.”

Momoshiro huffs. “So what. We’ll do some tennis, and then we’ll relax at the hot spring. It’ll be awesome!”

“Idiot. We’re there for training, not for fun.”

“What’s wrong with having fun?”

“It distracts from training!”

“No it doesn’t! You just don’t know how to have fun, Mamushi.”

“Shut up, moron.”

“You shut up, dumbass!”

Kaidoh kicks his shin underneath the table, and Momoshiro is quick to counterattack. They growl at each other for a while, until Momoshiro thinks of something. “We get our own room, right?”

Kaidoh folds his arms, a bit insulted. “Of course we do, idiot.”

Momoshiro smiles and takes another bite from his hamburger.

 

**oOo**

Momoshiro had to get revenge on Kaidoh for the stunt that he pulled last time. Okay, so Momoshiro cries at sad movies, _so what_. He’s got a big heart—unlike that stoic snake. However, Momoshiro knows Kaidoh’s weakness; he can’t stand horror movies, he’s as scared as a little girl when it comes to scary stories. So he invites Kaidoh to go to the movies with him, not telling him what kind of movie they were watching.

He pops in a popcorn in his mouth, satisfied he’s gonna scare Kaidoh as revenge. “Want some?” he asks and offers the box of popcorn to Kaidoh.

“No thanks, that stuff is unhealthy for you.”

“Suit yourself.”

They stop talking as the big screen in front of them finally starts running commercials. Ten minutes into the movie, and Momoshiro can already tell Kaidoh is sitting on the edge of his seat. He’s rigid, stiff and his eyes are wide and glued to the screen. Momoshiro smiles smugly to himself; revenge sure is sweet. Serves the bastard right for dragging him to a movie that made him cry.

“Momoshiro,” Kaidoh growls underneath his breath. “What kind of movie did you pick out ...”

Momoshiro munches happily on a piece of popcorn. “Killer Snakes. It’s a horror movie about snakes that—” Momoshiro shuts up once Kaidoh grabs his hand that was resting on the armrest, and squeezes it into oblivion. A particularly scary scene just came up on the screen that made the rest of the theater jump in their skin, but it made Kaidoh turn into stone, and _oh-my-god-he’s-got-a-tight-grip_.

“Kaidoh,” says Momoshiro in a high and shrill voice. “You’re killing me here!”

However, Kaidoh doesn’t notice that he’s grabbing Momoshiro’s hand and squeezing all blood out of it, no, he just sits on the edge of his chair with his eyes closed and shaking like a little girl. This would have been the most hilarious thing he’s ever seen in his life, if it weren’t for the fact that his hand feels like it’s going to die of bloodloss and fall off his arm. Momoshiro is more scared of Kaidoh’s strength, than he is of some stupid horror movie. He’ll be lucky to ever regain feeling in his hand again once the movie is over.

They don’t even get to that part however, as Kaidoh bolts out of the theater after one of the killer snakes jumps out into the screen, screaming like a little girl. He drags Momoshiro along, because their hands are now permanently fused together. Kaidoh doesn’t stop running until he’s out of the theater, catching his breath.

“Damnit Mamushi—I paid for those tickets!” complains Momoshiro. He tries to shake Kaidoh’s hand off of him, but he’s got a grip with the strength of an elephant.

“You. You ...” he says, the whites of his eyes large and wide. “You did this on purpose!”

Momoshiro rolls his eyes. “Duh. Now let go of me, I can’t feel my hand anymore!”

Kaidoh’s eyes travel towards their intertwined hands. He looks a bit surprised himself, as if he didn’t realize that he grabbed Momoshiro’s hand during the movie. Then he shakes it, and it looks stupid because now it looks like they’re shaking hands. “I can’t,” he says a bit perplexed.

“What? Sure you can, just get those snakey fingers off of my hand and let go of me!”

Kaidoh shakes their hands again, but he’s not letting go. Is he pulling some sort of prank here? “I can’t!” he repeats distressed.

“Shit!”

Their hands finally separate after a full damn hour. And it took taking Kaidoh to some sort of kitten petting zoo to calm him down enough. Momoshiro doesn’t get the feeling back in his hand until it’s late at night. He was sure it was going to be amputated though.

 

**oOo**

The Seigaku tennis members are all waiting at the bus stop, each with a large bag swung over their shoulders. It’s weekend, and they’re going on their tennis trip for some intense tennis training—and relaxing at the hot springs of course. But the bus wasn’t there yet.

Momoshiro looks at his cellphone for the time. “Kaidoh, you sure it’s coming at 8:30?”

Kaidoh, who is crouched down on the ground, hisses at him, also quite irritated that they’ve been waiting for a while, and the bus is twenty minutes late. “That’s what the stupid website said.”

“Yeah but, maybe you read it wrong. Maybe it was 9:30?”

“I didn’t read it wrong, they’re just late.”

“Well, maybe if you checked again to make sure—Ow! Asshole! You didn’t have to hit me.”

“Shut up already.”

Momoshiro hits Kaidoh’s head in return, and then they both start pulling at each other’s jerseys. The rest of the tennis club starts cheering out loud when the bus finally comes into view, and Momoshiro and Kaidoh spring apart.

“I told you,” says Kaidoh with a smirk. Though Momoshiro can tell he’s still angry for the bus arriving twenty minutes late.

“Alright guys, grab your stuff and get on!” says Momoshiro to all the other guys.

The bus pulls over and opens up the door. Kaidoh walks up the steps, and shows the driver all of their bus passes. He walks inside to find a seat. Momoshiro follows soon after, and he dumps himself in the seat right next to Kaidoh. He’s grinning from ear to ear; he’s gonna go to a hot spring!

“Stop smiling like a moron,” says Kaidoh darkly.

“Geez, don’t ruin my fun with your grumpiness. We’re going to the hot springs!” Momoshiro throws his fist in the air. “Right guys?” he calls out, and some of the other members throw their fist in the air as well in agreement. Kaidoh simply sighs, crosses his arms and looks outside of the window.

Momoshiro ends up falling asleep and drooling all over Kaidoh’s shoulder during the trip.

They’re finally there, arrived at the local inn where they reserved the rooms for the Seigaku tennis members. As Kaidoh had said, both he and Momoshiro share a room together, while everyone else got stuffed with each other in the last of the 3 rooms. The room in which they stay in isn’t that big, just a square room with a closet on the side for storage and a small table in the middle; totally traditional. Oh, but there’s a door on the other side. Momoshiro dumps his bag on the ground and quickly walks over and slides the paper screen open.

“Awesome, we’ve got a garden!” he says happily as he walks outside. He’s met with a nice view of lush green trees, trimmed bushes and—a hot springs! Well okay, he couldn’t actually _see_ the hot springs, but there’s a small cobblestone path leading up to the high bamboo fence, which most certainly contained the hot springs.

“Look Kaidoh, look! The hot springs is right across our room.” He’s feeling giddy and happy, and he wants to take a bath and soak in it for hours right away.

Kaidoh walks outside as well, and he bumps his shoulder into Momoshiro’s. “Stop squealing like a little kid, we’re here for training, this is not a vacation.”

Momoshiro jabs his elbow into Kaidoh’s side, but it’s not hard. “Let me have my fun, okay? I’ll train, don’t worry—but I’ll definitely take a bath later!”

The snake simply rolls his eyes and walks back inside.

True to his promise, Momoshiro helps out with the training of the tennis members along with Kaidoh. They’re captain and vice-captain after all, hence why they planned the entire trip to raise morale, and because Kaidoh’s somewhat of a sadistic snake since he likes to make everyone work so hard they’ll die trying. Momoshiro is sort of glad that he’s mostly supervising the rest and doesn’t have to join in on the super hard tennis training.

“Okay, go join them, Momoshiro,” says Kaidoh. They’re standing on a grassy hill, watching the other members run a hundred laps.

“Say what?” asks Momoshiro.

“Join them. You’re not just going to watch them train, you have to train yourself too. Especially since you’ve been slacking off lately.”

“I have not been slacking off!” he protests. Going to the movies twice did not count as slacking off! “And what the hell, why don’t you join too then, huh?”

“I’ll train alone at night,” he says, as if this was already decided before he even came here.

Momoshiro takes out his racket from his bag while mumbling curse words under his breath. “Bastard,” he says. Then for good measure, he smacks Kaidoh’s ass with his racket, and quickly runs down the hill.

“Why you! Come back here!” Kaidoh chases after him, racket in hand as well, and he smacks Momoshiro back.

Some of the tennis members stop running laps and look into the distance, at their captain and vice-captain hitting each other’s asses with their rackets. They wonder if they can slack off while they’re not watching, but Kaidoh is already yelling obscene words at them once he notices they’re standing still. Momoshiro uses that opportunity to smack Kaidoh one more time before he joins in on their running as well. The training lasts for hours and somewhere along the way, Momoshiro is sure he’s died several times over and he’s landed in hell.

At night, Kaidoh goes off to do some of his freaky training thing, and Momoshiro is happily soaking in the hot springs along with a bunch of other members. After that hellish training, this is exactly what he needs. His eyes are closed, and he’s leaning against the natural rocks; the hot water feels _amazing_.

Horio swims closer to Momoshiro. “Momo-chan-fukubuchou, where is Kaidoh-buchou?”

Momoshiro wriggles his nose as he relaxes some more. He doesn’t want to think about Kaidoh when he’s relaxing. “I don’t know, doing his stupid training I guess.”

“You’re not doing it with him?”

Momoshiro cracks open an eye and looks at him suspiciously. “No, why would I do that?”

Horio starts to fumble around with his fingers. “Uhm, ehh,” he stutters. Kato then comes by and pulls Horio away from Momoshiro, giving him worried glances.

Momoshiro thinks nothing of it, and closes his eyes and sinks deeper into the warm water. Like he has promised himself; he stays there soaking for hours, and everyone else but him has already left the hot springs. Well, maybe he should get up and get out as well, because he’s been feeling dizzy and lightheaded from all the steam since twenty minutes ago. He hears a splash of water, and Momoshiro opens his eyes to see who joined in. There’s so much steam though, that he can’t really tell, not until he sees the person swim next to him and rest against the rocks as well. He relaxes when he sees who it is.

“I thought you were training,” says Momoshiro with a snort.

Kaidoh spreads his arms outside on the rocks, and his skin touches the back of Momoshiro’s neck. “I finished it. Obviously.” Momoshiro leans his head against Kaidoh’s arm and looks up at the starry sky. “How long have you been in here?” he asks after noticing Momoshiro’s wrinkly skin.

“I don’t know—what time is it?”

“It’s 11:30.”

“Oh. Wow. I’ve been in here since 9.”

Kaidoh smacks the back of Momoshiro’s head. “Idiot, that’s dangerous. You could have fainted.”

Momoshiro shrugs with a lazy smile. “So, I haven’t.” But he does feel really lightheaded and dizzy though, but Kaidoh doesn’t need to know that.

It’s silent between them again, the only sounds they hear are the crickets chirping in the night, and the slight noise coming from the water, splashing back and forth against their bodies. It feels so nice and warm and Momoshiro is slowly losing his sight. He closes his eyes and focuses on Kaidoh’s steady breathing, until he hears nothing at all anymore and loses consciousness.

 

**oOo**

Momoshiro’s cheeks turn slightly pink as he looks underneath the futon. “Kaidoh,” he says, a bit uncomfortable. “Why am I naked?”

Kaidoh, who is in the process of pulling on his training pants, simply scoffs at him. “I had to haul your naked ass back in after you fainted. I told you it was dangerous. Idiot.”

“Oh,” is all Momoshiro can say. “Couldn’t you at least dress me?”

Kaidoh hisses. Momoshiro takes that as a ‘no’.

They resume their training for the last day, even though Momoshiro feels all of his muscles ache and he’s still rather embarrassed at Kaidoh dragging him back inside after fainting in the hot springs. All the members are complaining about dictatorship, and Momoshiro silently agrees with them. Silently, because if he’s vocal about it, he’s sure he’ll get punished for it. Not that’s he’s afraid of Kaidoh, but who knows—he could have taken pictures or something last night for blackmail, when he was completely defenseless and naked. In fact, he should probably check out Kaidoh’s cellphone to see if he really didn’t take any pictures, just to make sure.

“Momo-chan-fukubuchou, what are you doing?” asks Horio.

Momoshiro freezes and he looks up with a fake smile on his face; he’s caught in the act of snooping around in Kaidoh’s bag. He was looking for his damn cellphone.

“Nothin’,” he says nonchalantly.

“That doesn’t look like nothing to me,” says Kato, who stands next to Horio.

“Shut up you brats, go back to training before I double it.”

“Y-yes!” they both yell out and they run away.

Momoshiro resumes digging through Kaidoh’s bag, shoving away a few pieces of clothing and some shampoo and aftershave (heh—like that snake will ever get rid of his own stench with that), and he finally finds Kaidoh’s cellphone. He yanks the cellphone out of the bag, already full of greed and curiosity, and flips the blue cellphone open. He’s greeted by a cat wallpaper, how typical. He searches through the files and locates Kaidoh’s stored pictures. First picture is a cat walking on a fence in some street. Second picture is a cat playing with a loose piece of string on the sidewalk. The third has a bunch of different cats eating some cat food on the street. Cats, cats, cats—fucking cats. He presses the button almost lazily, staring at the screen with glazed over eyes as each picture flashes by; Kaidoh’s a catfreak.

And finally, he comes across a picture that doesn’t have some stupid cat in it. It’s a picture of him, actually. Him and Kaidoh fighting on the courts at school, yanking each other’s jerseys and butting heads against each other. Someone must have taken Kaidoh’s cellphone and snapped the shot.

“Momoshiro.”

Momoshiro turns to stone after hearing Kaidoh’s voice directly behind him. Oh crap. He quickly drops the cellphone back into his bag and pretends he has never touched the thing in his life.

“What?” he asks innocently.

“What are you doing.” It’s not a question.

“Nothin’.”

Kaidoh kicks Momoshiro’s ass, and yells at him to go back to training.

And training he does, he’s pretty much dead meat by the time Kaidoh calls it off, and everyone rejoices and goes to eat food. The thought of eating food doesn’t quite energize Momoshiro, but he does stuff himself full. Kaidoh as usual, goes off into the night to do his own special training, and Momoshiro ends up soaking in the hot springs again.

Horio and Kato swim over to him. “Momo-chan-fukubuchou?”

Momoshiro stirs in his relaxation, he doesn’t move to acknowledge them, but that’s mostly because his muscles all ache and it hurts to move. “What?”

“Well you see, we were wondering ... what were you doing with Kaidoh-buchou’s bag this morning?” asks Horio.

Ugh, Kaidoh again. “None of your guy’s business.”

“Oh,” says Horio disappointed.

Then Kato steps up. “Momo-chan-fukubuchou, I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Shh, shh!” Horio quickly silences him. “Don’t ask him!”

Kato turns to Horio. “But, but, you want to know too!”

“Yeah but, not now!”

Momoshiro lazily opens up his eyes; he’s not in the mood for those stupid brats annoying the hell out of him. “What is it already?” he asks with a sigh.

“Nothing!” squeaks Horio and he drags Kato away.

Stupid annoying brats. Momoshiro stays in the hot springs as the very last person again, he doesn’t move an inch to get up and go back to his room. He’s half asleep and half aware that his muscles won’t listen to him either way. That, and he’s waiting for Kaidoh to come back. That bastard has been training all this time again. Why can’t he just relax and have some fun? Some more time passes on, and Momoshiro is slowly dozing off and he feels lightheaded again.

“You look dead.”

“Ah!” Momoshiro’s heart leaps in his throat and his eyes fly wide open. “Asshole, you scared me!” he says, his heart beating fast. Fuck, he didn’t even hear anyone come in.

Kaidoh shrugs and sits next to Momoshiro. “I’m not gonna take you back inside if you faint again.”

Momoshiro punches Kaidoh’s shoulder. “I’m not going to faint.” Momoshiro then sighs out loud. “All of my muscles hurt soooo much.”

“Good, it’s supposed to.”

“No it’s not,” he complains. “You’re just some sort of sadist who enjoys making people work till all of their limbs go falling off.”

Kaidoh has to laugh at that one. “That’s only because you’ve been slacking off that it feels that way. If you actually train every day, you wouldn’t feel a thing.”

“Not everyone’s training obsessed like you,” mutters Momoshiro.

Kaidoh splashes water in his face. “Say that again!”

“I said you’re obsessed with training, you sadist!” Momoshiro splashes water back into Kaidoh’s face.

They end up wrestling each other in the water, and Momoshiro is half aware that his towel is threatening to slip from his waist. But he’s feeling too dizzy and exhausted to give a damn, and slightly happy he can wrestle with Kaidoh. He eventually stops first, and slouches against Kaidoh; exhausted, tired, aching, and dizzy.

“Moron, you’re gonna faint again.”

Momoshiro breathes heavily. “No I’m not.” Well, maybe he is.

He doesn’t protest when Kaidoh pulls him out of the hot springs. At least he’s not completely naked this time. When they go back to their room, dressed in some nice yukatas, their futons are already made and on the ground, next to each other.

“Oh yay, futons!” says Momoshiro happily, regaining some of his energy.

“Stupid, you slept in it yesterday too.” Kaidoh sits down on the one closest to the door.

“Yeah but, I don’t remember sleeping it in,” says Momoshiro and he sits on the other one. “You know what I’ve been wanting to do ever since I woke up today?”

“What?”

Momoshiro throws a pillow at Kaidoh, and it hits him straight in the face. He gives out a loud triumphant yell and laughs as Kaidoh’s face turns red from anger. Kaidoh hisses and throws the pillow back at him, and they end up having a pillow fight with each other. Sure his muscles ache, and every inch of his body hurts just by moving, but there’s no way he’s giving up the opportunity to whack Kaidoh in the face with a pillow, no—that’s just too precious.

Tired from training and the pillow fight, they collapse on their futons and fall asleep.

 

**oOo**

Momoshiro looks at the Japanese styled inn with sad eyes, the bus waiting for them behind him. “I feel like we just came here this morning,” he says sadly.

Kaidoh walks by him, his bag in tow. “It was only for two days, you know.”

“I know. We should come here again, it was fun. Aside from the training that is.”

Kaidoh turns and starts to walk up the steps to enter the bus, and in doing so, whacks the back of Momoshiro’s head with his bag. “We didn’t come here for a vacation, dumbass.”

Momoshiro rubs the back of his head and hurriedly chases after Kaidoh. “Come back here, Mamushi!”

He sits down next to Kaidoh again, this time getting the window seat, and drools all over Kaidoh’s shoulder on their way back home. He wakes up by getting punched in his stomach.

When they’re all back in school, and resuming their regular practices again, Momoshiro stands on the courts supervising some of the first years, while Kaidoh’s off doing whatever captain business he’s doing. Horio and Kato walk up to Momoshiro, both of them looking suspicious, and they’re avoiding looking into Momoshiro’s eyes.

“What is it? Do you guys need any help?” asks Momoshiro.

“Uhm, not really,” says Horio. “We were just wondering about something ...”

Momoshiro spots Kaidoh coming out of the storage shed, and he’s half paying attention to what Horio is saying. “Aha.”

“And well ...”

Kato is the one who speaks up. “Are you and Kaidoh-buchou ... dating?”

“Huh?” says Momoshiro, his attention still directed towards Kaidoh who is now yelling at some first years. “I’m dating who now?”

“Kaidoh-buchou. Is it true?”

Momoshiro turns towards the two kids in front of him. A second or two passes before he realizes what they had just asked him. “Wait what— _dating Kaidoh!?_ What the hell, where’d you get that idea? I’m not gay! And I’m not dating Kaidoh!” he yells out loud.

Horio shuffles on his spot. “But, you’ve been together a lot lately. We even saw you go out on dates.”

“Dates, what dates!?” Momoshiro wants to demand who came up with the preposterous idea of him dating Kaidoh. Seriously, what the hell—him and the snake. Yeah right! Not even when hell freezes over!

“Well, I saw you eating burgers with Kaidoh-buchou at WcDonalds last week,” Horio says meekly.

“We were discussing the tennis trip together!” That was _so_ not a date!

 “And someone saw you together at the movies!” says Horio.

“That’s because I had to prove to him that I don’t cry at movies!” Momoshiro fires back.

“And then _I_ saw you at the movies a couple of days later!”

“That was just revenge because he made me cry the first time!” It makes perfect sense to him, damnit.

“You were holding _hands_.”

“Only because Kaidoh’s scared shitless—that proves nothing!” Momoshiro throws his hands up in the air. “Nothing!”

“During out tennis trip, you guys were all over each other too. Smacking each other’s butts with your racket, how about that, huh?”

“We were simply fighting. _Fighting!_ ”

 “That didn’t look like fighting to me,” pipes in Kato.

“It was!”

“And then you two were having a private bath at the hot springs as well. Just the two of you!”

Momoshiro sputters and is starting to feel embarrassed now. “That’s only because that stupid bastard does training so late. It’s not because we wanted to be alone!”

“Oh yeah, then why did the two of you get a private room, huh?” asks Horio slyly.

Momoshiro’s cheeks start to heat up. “That’s because we’re captain and vice-caption of the club, of course we’re gonna get our own room. We’re special, damnit.”

“Yeah but, _together?_ ”

“We slept in separate futons!” he protests.

“Then what were those sounds I heard coming from your room, Momo-chan-fukubuchou?” asks Kato.

Momoshiro turns beet red at that one. “W-we weren’t doing anything weird. We were having a pillow fight. A pillow fight!”

“That didn’t sound like a pillow fight to me,” repeats Kato with a roll of his eyes.

Momoshiro’s attention is taken away from the two questioning boys when a certain bandana-clad captain walks by. Kaidoh! His savior! “Kaidoh!” He yanks Kaidoh by his shirt and pulls him back, to his side. “Tell ‘em Kaidoh!”

“Yeah Kaidoh-buchou, tell us!”

Kaidoh looks confused, and raises his eyebrows at Momoshiro. “Tell them what?”

“That we’re not dating!”

Kaidoh looks at Momoshiro, then at the two brats, then back at Momoshiro, and finally back at the brats. He looks confused, probably as confused as Momoshiro is at being accused of dating the other. Kaidoh blinks his scary big eyes a few times before he gives a response. He takes in a deep breath. “We’re not.”

The two boys sulk and whine out loud. “Awww,” they say in unison.

“Hah! Told you!” Momoshiro throws a fist in the air. “We’re not! Definitely not! There yah have it, stupid brats. Now run along before I assign fifty laps to you both.”

They finally leave the scene in defeat. Kaidoh turns to Momoshiro with a puzzled expression on his face.

“We’re not?”


	2. We Are

“We’re _dating?_ ”

Momoshiro still can’t believe it, in fact, he _won’t_ believe it, it’s utterly ridiculous. Okay, Horio and Kato thinking something like that, he’ll let it slide—but what the hell, Kaidoh thinks so too!? He was under the impression that they were dating? Seriously. What. The. Hell.

Kaidoh angrily stuffs his training clothes into his bag. “Apparently not,” he bites out.

Momoshiro stands in front of Kaidoh with a big wide open mouth, in fact, if it was even possible, he’s sure his jaw would hit the floor by now if he was in an anime or something. It’s completely baffling. Him and Kaidoh, dating? Kaidoh thought they were dating? Definitely not! What in the world made him think that?

“Wh—wha—why—whe—” Momoshiro stutters out words, trying to make sense of the situation, but his brain is literally fried by now.

Kaidoh zips his bag close. “Shut the hell up already,” he says angrily. He stands up from the bench and swings his bag over his shoulder, then hurriedly leaves the locker room.

Momoshiro flies after him, like a fly stuck to some fly-catcher tape, because no way in hell is he going to leave Kaidoh alone right now. Nu-uh, he’s gotta know what the hell made him think they were dating, for god’s sake— _dating_. He grabs hold of Kaidoh’s bag and pulls it, causing the snake to stop in his tracks.

“ _How?_ ” he breathes out.

Kaidoh hisses and yanks his bag back, picking up speed and jogging away.

“Mamushi!” yells Momoshiro after him and runs too.

“Leave me alone!”

“No! I don’t understand!”

“We’ve established that already!”

“Mamushi!”

“Stop calling me that—and leave me the hell alone!”

Momoshiro, seeing no other option, tackles Kaidoh to the ground with a loud ‘oof!’. They both go down, and Momoshiro is clinging to Kaidoh’s legs, holding him to the ground. “No, stop running. Tell me what the fuck is going on.”

Kaidoh flings Momoshiro off of him with amazing strength (like the strength of his grip which he demonstrated not too long ago), and scrambles to get up again.

“Stop it already! Tell me! Why did you think we were dating!? I mean, I never even said anything, and doesn’t dating include things like holding hands and kissing and things—we’ve never done that!” Well, okay, so Kaidoh _did_ hold his hand that one time, but it was a far cry from being romantic.

Then finally, Kaidoh turns around, and he’s ready to swing his fist into Momoshiro’s face, but fortunately, manages to control himself “It was because of you!” he spits out. “Three weeks ago you called me and said ‘I’m bored, let’s go out’, and after that, it’s been nothing _but_ going out!”

“Th-th-that was a literal going out phrase! As in, let’s physically go somewhere because I’m bored of not doing anything. That wasn’t a ‘let’s date each other’ kind of phrase!”

Kaidoh hisses once more. “I know that. I figured you were just being you—meaning dumb as fuck and ignorant, and stubborn and stupid and—”

“Get to the point,” he growls.

“Never mind! I don’t give a fuck anymore, get out of my fucking sight, you asshole.” He turns around and starts walking away again.

Momoshiro stands still as he thinks of something. Thinks of something he never thought he would ever think about in his entire life. “Does that mean ... you like me?”

Kaidoh stops walking, frozen in mid-action. Something sinks deep inside of Momoshiro’s stomach, shit, really? He grabs Kaidoh’s wrist and spins him around so that he can see his face. His face which is displaying a thousand words right about now; he’s never seen Kaidoh turn that red before. Ever. In fact, it’s making him blush a deep red as well, and he’s speechless. Utterly and completely _speechless_. Well fuck, now what?

“No, I don’t,” he hisses with a cherry red face. Well, that’s gotta be the biggest and fattest lie in the world, and Momoshiro blows a raspberry out of confusion. Kaidoh yanks his wrist free from Momoshiro and runs away again, but this time, Momoshiro is a bit too perplexed to follow after him.

 

**oOo**

Momoshiro paces up and down in his room. He’s restless, and can’t stop thinking about Kaidoh, that stupid idiotic snake. He also can’t get the image of Kaidoh’s serious blushing red face when he asked if he likes him out of his head either. He sits down on his bed, then gets back up and paces back and forth. He doesn’t get it, he seriously doesn’t get it. Three weeks? That’s how long Kaidoh thought they were supposed to be dating?

What the hell does dating even mean now? What does Kaidoh think dating means? He’s completely confused.

Momoshiro flips open his cellphone and quickly calls Eiji. “Eiji-senpai!” Momoshiro cries out once his former team member picks up.

“Oi, Momo! What’s up?”

“Eiji-senpai, I need some advice. I’m going crazy over here.”

“Wow, is it that serious? What’s wrong?”

“Tell me what dating means.”

“Eh?”

“Dating. What does it mean, what does it involve? I just don’t get it.”

“Oh, uhm, well I’m not an expert on it or anything,” says Eiji with a nervous chuckle. “But isn’t it so that you can just spend time with the person that you like, and you go out on dates and stuff?”

“What kind of dates?” he asks right away.

“Uhh, like going to the movies? Or eating dinner together, or taking a trip together ... I don’t know.”

Ah fuck, he went to the movies with Kaidoh several times, he ate with him lots of times as well—and they went on a trip together and stayed in the same room! Oh, how mortifying!

“But-but-but, doesn’t dating include things like holding hands, and-and, kissing!?”

“Oh yeah, definitely!”

Momoshiro sighs in relief; that means Kaidoh and him weren’t dating. Good.

“But some people take it slow, you know? I know of a couple who have only been on dates together, but never once touched each other! They’ve been going out for three months already.”

And his confusing thoughts are back again. “S-seriously?”

“Yeah! So don’t worry Momo, if you haven’t done anything yet. It just takes some time, I guess.”

“I’m not worrying about that—I’m not the one who’s dating!”

“Huh? Then what are you talking about?”

“Never mind, I’m just so confused right now. I think I’m gonna go play some tennis.”

“Alright then, good luck with your worries, Momo! Call me again I you need any more help, okay?”

“Okay, thanks Eiji-senpai.”

“No problem!”

Momoshiro hangs up on Eiji and throws his phone on the bed. He wants to crawl in a hole and never come out of it anymore. He’s even more confused now; the more he thinks about the things he’s done with Kaidoh, the more it looks like they _were_ dating. Maybe Horio and Kato had a point after all. But still, why was he the only one who didn’t know? He thought they were just being rivals and stuff, he didn’t realize that was code for ‘dating’!

He throws a little fit on his bed, then goes and plays some street tennis.

It seems someone up there must hate him, because Kaidoh is there too, playing a match against some other guy he’s never seen before. Momoshiro tries to be slick and cool, and slither away unnoticed, but that’s kind of hard to do when there’s a tennis ball hurtling his way. He quickly dodges it, and he catches Kaidoh’s eye. The snake immediately looks away, then turns around and grabs a new ball.

Well, now what? What does Kaidoh want from him? This all feels awkward, and it has got to be the biggest misunderstanding in the century. How does one think they’re dating without ever having agreed on dating? So what they did a lot of ‘dating’ stuff, that doesn’t mean shit! Nothing! Stupid Mamushi! Why’d he have to go and say that in the first place!?

“He your friend?” asks the big buff guy who’s playing against Kaidoh.

Momoshiro swallows and tries to make a quick get-a-way that won’t make him look like a total spaz.

Kaidoh shakes his head. “No,” he says.

What? What a bastard! Pretending he doesn’t know him. Momoshiro takes out his racket and angrily swings with it.

“Yo, Mamushi, why don’t you say that to my face,” he threatens him.

“Go away you fucking moron.”

“Great, you do know each other, why don’t we play doubles? My buddy is wanting to play too.”

“I’m not playing doubles with him,” says Kaidoh with a scoff.

“What, too scared, Mamushi?” says Momoshiro. He walks over to Kaidoh’s side of the court. “Too scared because you _like_ me?”

Kaidoh punches his cheek once he’s close enough, well, he might have deserved that one. Just a little bit. Momoshiro stumbles back and holds his cheek protectively; it stings.

“What the hell is your problem, Mamushi.”

“ _You_ , you are my problem!”

“So, are we playing doubles or what?” asks the other guy. His friend is already standing in position behind him.

“Shut up!” Kaidoh yells at him, or at Momoshiro, he doesn’t quite know, but he throws his ball up in the air and takes the first serve. The big guy quickly runs across the court to hit it.

“It’s entirely your fault, you know,” says Momoshiro as he hits a ball back.

Kaidoh pushes him out of the way. “What the hell are you talking about—it’s your fucking fault. You’re the dumbest person on earth!” He hits his racket against the ball and performs a boomerang snake, the ball swerving around the post and landing in the doubles court, gaining them a point.

“I reject that notion!” says Momoshiro, insulted.

Kaidoh serves again, and the two guys scramble to play back, they’re sort of thrown off of their game with Kaidoh and Momoshiro yelling at each other.

“Fine, you’re not just the dumbest person on the earth. You’re the dumbest person who ever _lived._ ”

Momoshiro shoves against Kaidoh and takes the hit away from him. “Fuck you! You were the one that started assuming things—I never said a word. Not a word!”

“Let’s go out, he says! Let’s go to the movies, he says! Let’s eat together, he says! Let’s fucking take a room together—yes, you never said a word, did you, Momoshiro?”

Momoshiro growls at him, then jumps up high to perform his awesome dunk smash. They earn another point. “Never once did I mean it that way! That’s all your doing! I thought we were rivals for god’s sake.”

Kaidoh serves once more. “You’re always seeking me out, bothering me, dragging me to things. You sat next to me on the bus and slept on me— _twice!_ I hauled your naked ass out of the stupid hot springs and brought you back to our room. Seriously, why would I ever do something like that to a fucking rival?”

Momoshiro misses the ball, and the opposition scores their first point. “I don’t know, you tell me!”

Kaidoh throws his racket on the ground, stomps over to Momoshiro and lifts him up by his shirt, banging his forehead against Momoshiro’s. “I fucking like you! Okay? _I like you!_ ”

“Uhh, we’re gonna leave you two alone now, ‘kay?” says the buff guy. They leave the both of them alone on the court.

Momoshiro takes in a deep breath as he looks into Kaidoh’s tiny irises. Kaidoh is breathing harshly and his face is red again, and he’s not showing any signs of letting go of Momoshiro’s shirt.

“Well, okay then,” says Momoshiro, because he doesn’t know what else to say.

Kaidoh finally lets go, and Momoshiro rubs his chest. “Okay what?”

“Let’s do it then. The dating thing.” His own words even surprise himself. He what now?

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright ... then ...”

 

**oOo**

If Momoshiro knew how hard dating would be, he’d have never said something like that. Well, he should have never said it in the first place, because he still has no idea why he said it. It just sort of came up in the spur of the moment. He blames Kaidoh’s face, which was red, and close to him, and making him feel embarrassed too. Anyways, dating is hard. He called Eiji one more time to get advice on how to date, and he gave him this schedule thing of going to the movies, and grabbing their hand in the dark ... and ... Momoshiro is already blushing from the suggestions and stops thinking about it.

But this is Kaidoh. Just a few days ago everything was peachy, and they were rivals (and Kaidoh thought they were dating) and hitting each other like the good ol’ times. Now he knows Kaidoh likes him, and Momoshiro is nervous and doesn’t know what to say when he’s around Kaidoh. He can’t even come up with a good insult. Do people insult each other when they date? Doesn’t that seem rude and insensitive? Not that Kaidoh is sensitive or anything ... but still, just how is he supposed to act towards Kaidoh now?

“Stop spacing out, moron,” says Kaidoh.

Momoshiro, who was standing on the courts looking off into space, looks up at Kaidoh. The snake that he’s dating. Dating. Him and Kaidoh. “Erhm, uhh,” he mumbles. What does he usually say to Kaidoh in this sort of situation again? “Sorry.” Fuck, he can’t even get into an argument with Kaidoh anymore. He’s too self-conscious about it now.

Kaidoh looks at him weirdly, but shrugs it off and gets back to training the first years.

Momoshiro remembers how Eiji said that they should walk home together, because people who date each other do that a lot. He also said to hold their hand, but thinking about that freaks Momoshiro out, and gets him into a very uncomfortable zone. When they clean up, Momoshiro rocks back and forth on his feet, trying to call out to Kaidoh and ask if he wants to walk home with him (he specifically didn’t come to school using his bike today). Kaidoh notices Momoshiro’s weird behavior, and raises his eyebrows at him.

“What the hell is wrong with you,” he says.

“Do you—do you want to walk home together?” Momoshiro finally asks. Phew, he got that one out.

Kaidoh still looks at him weirdly, but agrees either way. Good, at least he didn’t turn him down, that would be even more awkward. They clean up the rest of the tennis equipment in silence, and finally walk out of school together.

It’s awkward. It’s quiet. It’s so uncomfortable that Momoshiro’s is sweating like crazy. Well, what now? What does he talk about with Kaidoh? What does he usually talk about with Kaidoh? It seems they never really talked much, as most of it was just flinging insults back and forth, and Momoshiro doesn’t even know how to do that anymore either. He walks next to Kaidoh with a good meter of distance between them, he’s afraid if he accidentally touches Kaidoh that he’ll notice how much he’s sweating.

“I got a postcard from that inn we stayed at in the mail yesterday,” says Kaidoh all of the sudden.

Momoshiro’s heart leaps into his throat, and the palms of his hands start sweating even more. “Is that so?”

“It said we were really nice guests, and they hoped we’d come back soon again. They’ll even give us a discount.”

 “A discount, really?” Momoshiro feels empty and unresponsive. His usual cheerfulness and natural charisma is gone. Simply gone.

“Yeah,” says Kaidoh. “Do you ... want to go there again?”

Momoshiro looks at him with wide eyes. “Huh? Training again?”

“No, I mean. You know. Just ... us. You said you wanted to go back, didn’t you?”

“Oh. Us.” Alone. Together. Awkwardly. Not saying a word. “Uhm,” he hesitates. “S-sure. We can do that.” Yeah, they’re dating, and dating means going out on trips with each other.

Momoshiro just hopes he’ll get his wits back by then, because he’s going crazy from the perspiration on his hands. He just won’t stop sweating. Fuck, this is insane. Why is this so hard? What about Kaidoh? Why is he the only one who’s normal? Is dating supposed to be this awkward?

“Okay ... then ...” says Kaidoh slowly. “When?”

“When?” So soon already!?

“Uhm, never mind, we’ll just talk about it another time,” says Kaidoh and he scratches the back of his head.

 _Oh-this-feels-so-awkward-he-wants-to-die._ Momoshiro tries to come up with something else to say, anything really, like how he put on two different socks this morning, or how he almost stepped in some dog poop on his way to school, or how he was really happy for getting the last piece of lemon bread during lunch—but nothing is coming out of his mouth. Not even insults. There’s something seriously wrong with him.

Then he sees WcDonalds across the street, and seizes his chance. “W-wanna go get some burgers?” he asks meekly.

He knows he usually has to drag Kaidoh’s ass against his will if he wants to eat burgers, but maybe, maybe he’ll say yes. Pretty please? Don’t make him look like a bumbling and blabbering fool for asking.

“Okay.”

Momoshiro wants to scream out loud in relief, but he’s quiet like a mouse. They enter the fast food restaurant and Momoshiro orders seven big burgers, and two large fries. Kaidoh gets some water, what a freak. Momoshiro wants to comment on Kaidoh’s lack of a healthy appetite, but his mouth feels as dry as sand, and they quietly find a spot to sit at and eat. Wanting to avoid sitting in an uncomfortable silence, Momoshiro digs into his food straight away, stuffing himself so much that he wouldn’t be able to talk even if he wanted to. Kaidoh watches him in disgust. Well, anything is better than that awkward silence of not knowing what to say.

“You’re so disgusting,” says Kaidoh after he sees Momoshiro eat an entire burger in a minute.

Momoshiro feels awkward again, how does he usually respond? “Sorry,” he says instead when he swallows.

Kaidoh frowns at him. “Stop that,” he hisses.

“Stop what?” he asks confused. He grabs another burger and unwraps the paper.

“That. You’re acting weird.”

Momoshiro smiles at him uncomfortably; is it that obvious? Crap, even Kaidoh notices. He can’t do anything right. Dating is hard. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

Kaidoh says nothing, but he finishes his water, and then gets up. “I’m going home,” he says, and leaves Momoshiro alone.

He’s still got five burgers left and one large fry, and he’s never felt so lonely before in his life.

 

**oOo**

“Eiji-senpai, you gotta help me out!” whines Momoshiro to his cellphone.

“You having dating troubles again?”

“Yes! I just don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Well, tell her she looks nice, or cute or something.”

“Looks nice. Okay, got it. What else?”

“Uhm—try and hold her hand? I’m sure she’s as nervous as you are.”

Momoshiro sighs. “I’m too much of a wuss to try that out. My hands start sweating a lot just by thinking about it.”

“Well, then how about you accidentally grab her hand instead? You know, make it seem like an accident. So that when she doesn’t like it, you can still pull back.”

“Oh, good idea, Eiji-senpai. You’re the best, thanks!”

“You’re welcome. Now, could you please stop ringing me every hour, Momo? Sure I want to help you ... but I have homework to do!”

Momoshiro bends his head down in shame. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I won’t call again. Until I screw up or something.”

“Okay. Well, good luck!”

Alright, so, this is operation Hold Hands. Hold hands with Kaidoh. Momoshiro rolls over in his bed, slamming his hands and feet against the mattress like a little kid. He’s feeling nervous and his hands start to sweat again. Damnit. Regardless of his stupid sweating, he’ll do it! Because he’s dating, and stuff, and that’s what they do, right? Eiji said so, so it must be right. Hands, yeah, holding hands. Wait, what if Kaidoh doesn’t want to? What if he holds his hand so tight again he’ll really have to amputate it?

Now Momoshiro has a different kind of fear to worry about.

“Kaidoh!” Momoshiro was hoping he sounded manly and confident, but what came out was a very loud and high-pitched squeak. Great.

Kaidoh, who has just finished putting on his shoes, looks up from the bench, at Momoshiro who is looking at anything but Kaidoh, and doing a funny little dance because he’s nervous.

“What? Did you break something?”

Momoshiro frowns, temporarily forgetting how nervous he’s supposed to be. “What? No.” Then he feels nervous again. “I’ll walk you home!” There, it was a command, not a question.

Kaidoh gives him that weird look again, but he doesn’t say anything to indicate he’ll kick Momoshiro’s ass for saying something like that. So there he is, walking at Kaidoh’s side again, with a meter of distance in between them, and the palm of his hand is sweaty, and his neck is sweaty, and his underwear is sweaty too and everything feels uncomfortable.

Hand. He’s gotta hold his hand. But make it look like an accident. How does he do that? Fall onto Kaidoh and say ‘oops, I grabbed your hand’? That would look stupid, not to mention illogical. Or maybe he can say Kaidoh’s hand looks cold, and he’ll offer to warm it up for him. Yeah, that sounds nice, except it’s fucking _summer_. Fuck, how is he going to do this?

“Why are you walking so far away from me?” asks Kaidoh.

The sudden attention to himself and the distance between them makes Momoshiro jump in his skin. “Uhh, uhm,” he stumbles. “Forcefield?” he suggests lamely.

“What?” asks Kaidoh confused. “Hey, watch out.”

“Uhh—” Before Momoshiro can come up with another lame excuse, he crashes straight into a pole on the sidewalk.

His face is completely smashed and paralyzed, he falls backwards on his ass, and ow-ow-ow that fucking hurts like hell. He blinks his eyes a few times, since he’s seeing a double after image all of the sudden, and why, hello there, splitting headache. Just what he needed while trying to come up with an excuse why he’s putting distance between him and Kaidoh, and while trying to accidentally grab his hand. Wait, how in the world is he going to grab Kaidoh’s hand while standing far away from him? Fuck, he was doing it wrong from the beginning.

“Moron, I told you to watch out.” Kaidoh’s hand is hovering near his face. It’s like a god-send, an angel—a gift. In his face, just like that, he did it effortlessly and without even having to try. Momoshiro is envious of Kaidoh’s ‘accidental hand grabbing’ scheme, even though he knows it’s not, but can’t help thinking of it like that anyway.

Momoshiro holds out his hand as well, and it’s sweaty and sticky and shit—he’s gotta hold Kaidoh’s hand with that nasty thing. He’s just about to pull his own hand away, when Kaidoh grabs it instead, and he pulls him up to his feet (with that elephant strength again).

“Thanks,” he says, a bit surprised Kaidoh pulled him up so suddenly. He looks down at his hand, which is being held by Kaidoh, and he feels his face grow hot and there’s no way Kaidoh doesn’t notice how sweaty he is. He’s so engrossed by his hand that he even forgets that his face just smashed into a pole a few seconds ago.

“Idiot,” says Kaidoh. He loosens his grip on Momoshiro, ready to let go, but Momoshiro quickly wraps his fingers around Kaidoh’s hand before he can pull it back.

Sticky, sticky, so sticky, and bump, bump, bump his heart goes. Kaidoh’s hand is bony, and very warm, and it makes every pore on his hand ooze sweat like crazy. Kaidoh looks at their hands as well, and Momoshiro sucks in a breath; is he going to punch him and yell insults? It seems like forever, when Momoshiro feels the slight squeeze in return of Kaidoh’s hand, and he relaxes it as his side, and quickly hides away his face. Momoshiro’s hand starts to shake, and they both start walking, hand in hand, and haha ... hahaha ... _that-was-so-nerve-wrecking-he-could-die._

He walks Kaidoh home this time, neither of them saying a word, yet neither of them let go of their hands. Which, when he tries, proved to be impossible, because Kaidoh’s got fucking elephant strength again. Son-of-a-bitch.

 

**oOo**

“So, uhm, the discount is only for this weekend,” says Kaidoh.

Momoshiro looks up from eating his burger. “Oh, really?” Shit, does that mean they have to already take the trip together? He’s not prepared for it yet! “I guess we better go then,” he mutters.

Kaidoh leans his chin on his hand and stares outside the window. “Yeah, this weekend.”

Momoshiro’s eyes sneak a peek at Kaidoh’s hands, and he grows hot in his face and quickly stuffs himself with another hamburger. So he’s succeeded in operation Hold Hands, and now he has to tell Kaidoh he looks nice. Or something like that. He looks over at Kaidoh again, who’s spacing out and staring out the window, and he looks like his usual grumpy self. How exactly is he supposed to compliment that snake? He looks nice for being grumpy? No, he can’t say that ... Momoshiro studies him more closely. Alright, he does have a very finely shaped jaw, angular, but a little bit ... elegant? Yeah, something like that. His eyes, even though they’re tiny, aren’t that bad either, especially when he’s gazing and not glaring, they look fierce and sharp, and Momoshiro’s hands start to sweat again.

Where the hell are these thoughts coming from anyway? Why is he thinking about Kaidoh’s face so much?

“What?” asks Kaidoh once he notices Momoshiro has stopped eating and is staring at him.

Momoshiro flushes red and quickly munches on his burger. “Nothin’,” he says with a mouthful.

He can’t help himself but look at Kaidoh’s face again, this time his eyes landing on those very lush lips of his, and he chokes on his food.

 

**oOo**

Momoshiro rolls back and forth on his bed; he’s anxious and nervous, and there’s only one day left before they’ll go back to that inn—alone. Alone with Kaidoh. While they’re dating. Momoshiro digs his face into his pillow. He still has no clue how it even came to that point, dating Kaidoh. Just a week ago they were friendly rivals, and now Kaidoh says he likes him and they’re dating and holding hands and his shirt is clinging to his sweaty back. How did it all happen so faaast. Momoshiro rolls over on his bed again.

What is he going to do with Kaidoh, alone, at the inn? Oh god, they’re gonna go to the hot springs together and crap, he’s not mentally prepared for that! Sure, he was completely fine with it not too long ago, but now he knows. He’s completely aware of Kaidoh’s presence, and that Kaidoh _likes_ him, and _oh-shit-he’s-sweating-again_.

Should he hold his hand again? It was nerve wrecking the first time, and neither of them said a word, it was uncomfortable and weird, but it’s not like Momoshiro would say he hated it ... it was just weird. Yeah, weird. Dating Kaidoh, what the hell was he thinking. Apparently, he’s thinking about loads of things because he can’t even keep track of his thoughts anymore. One moment he’s thinking about holding Kaidoh’s hand, the next he’s thinking about being naked together in the hot springs, and the next he thinks about strangling Kaidoh to death. Ahhh, he’s going crazy! Eiji, he needs to talk to Eiji!

Momoshiro rolls and rolls across his bed until he stops at his desk and quickly grabs his cellphone. He punches in Eiji’s number and calls him.

“Momo!” greets Eiji. “What’s wrong this time?” Well, that’s sort of embarrassing that he immediately knew what Momoshiro was calling for.

“I uhh, I need help,” says Momoshiro with a dry throat.

“Help with what? Did you mess up holding her hand?”

“Oh that? No, we held hands.”

“That’s great! A step in the right direction!” Momoshiro bites his lips as he tries hard to not tell Eiji that he was holding _Kaidoh’s_ hand, and not some girl. And that it felt completely awkward.

“A-anyways. I’ve got a new problem. We’re gonna go on a trip together tomorrow, for two days. We’ll be staying at an inn together. In the same room. With a hot spring.”

Eiji is a bit quiet on the other line, until he hears him cough. “Oh. Well, good luck!”

“Don’t say that! I don’t know what to do!”

“Well, I don’t know either! I don’t even have a girlfriend!”

Girlfriend? _Girlfriend?_ Oh, Momoshiro’s mind is in everlasting torture now. “Gi-gi ... wha .. he’s ... argh!”

“Okay calm down. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“I’m not fine! That’s the problem!”

“Well, just—I don’t know—relax or something. Tell her you feel nervous, maybe that’ll help.”

“Okay, I’ll try. What else?”

“Hold hands?”

“I uhm ... already did that.” Momoshiro feels too embarrassed to say he’s too scared to do it again.

“I don’t know, kiss?”

Momoshiro falls back on his bed, _dead_. Dead, dead, dead, dead and sweaty as fuck.

“Momo? Momo!”

“Ahaha, yes, I’m still here, Eiji-senpai.” Barely.

“Well, you don’t have to kiss if you don’t want to,” suggests Eiji.

Momoshiro rocks back and forth on his bed like a little kid, and his face feels hot and it’s really starting to hurt his cheeks. “And b-besides ... kissing?”

“Uhh.” Eiji takes a moment to think of something. “Oh, I think it would be a good idea to bring condoms—”

**Thud.**

_Crack._

Momoshiro lies on his floor, with his cellphone snapped in half, prodding his back. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

 

**oOo**

Kaidoh hisses at him the moment he lays his eyes on Momoshiro. “You’re _late_ ,” he says angrily.

Momoshiro cautiously walks up to Kaidoh, and puts on his best fake smile, and hopes Kaidoh can’t tell he’s fidgety as hell. “Sorry.”

“I’ve been calling you for an hour already, why didn’t you pick up?”

“I, uhh, I lost my cellphone.” More like broke the damn thing. “My mom needed help with some chores.” The real reason why he’s an hour late was because he kept fussing over which clothes to bring, and then bang his head against the wall, and repeat the cycle all over again. Not like he’ll tell Kaidoh.

Kaidoh stands up from the bench he was sitting on and punches Momoshiro’s arm, and ow, that sort of hurts. “Idiot,” he says. He bends his head down so Momoshiro can only see his red bandana. “I thought something happened to you on your way over here,” he mutters.

Kaidoh was worried about him? This makes Momoshiro feel new prickles of nervousness in his stomach. Ahh, that’s not helping, not helping at all!

“Anyways, since you were so late, we already missed the damn bus.”

“Oh.”

“It comes every hour though, so you’re lucky it’ll be here in 5 minutes.”

“Oh.”

Silence.

Momoshiro’s hands start sweating again; what is he supposed to say to Kaidoh now? Tell him the funny story how he managed to break his cellphone? No, he’d rather die before doing that. The longer the silence stretches between them, the clammier his hands get, until he’s so sick of it, he calls out Kaidoh’s name.

“What?”

“C-can I borrow your cellphone? I need to call someone.”

Kaidoh doesn’t say anything, but takes out the blue cellphone either way and hands it over to Momoshiro.

Momoshiro turns his back to Kaidoh and starts walking away. He flips the phone open, and he expected to see that stupid cat picture as his wallpaper again, but blushes like a tomato when he sees Kaidoh has changed it to that picture of the two of them fighting each other. Wow, this is, uhm, unexpected. Very unexpected. Momoshiro tilts his head back a bit to sneak a glance at Kaidoh, who’s sitting on the bench again, looking grumpy and irritated. Stupid sneaky Kaidoh, he doesn’t need him to make him feel even more fidgety with little things like this.

He should really pick out a better picture though.

Momoshiro shakes his head, then dials Eiji’s number, because Eiji is like his guardian or something.

“Kaidoh?” asks Eiji surprised when he picks up.

“No, it’s me,” says Momoshiro in a hushed voice.

“Oh ... Momo. What are you doing with Kaidoh’s cellphone?”

“That doesn’t matter. Tell me again, what do I need to do on this trip? I forgot everything already and I don’t know what to say!” Momoshiro makes sure he’s out of earshot from Kaidoh, because like hell will he ever admit to this in front of the snake.

Eiji sighs. “Tell them you’re nervous. Hold hands. Kiss. And be sure to use condoms.”

“EIJI-SENPAI!” Momoshiro yells loudly, which prompts Kaidoh to look at him weirdly. Momoshiro quickly presses the red button—Eiji can go fuck himself—and with a nervous chuckle he hands it back over to Kaidoh.

“What’s wrong with you?” asks Kaidoh in a grumpy voice, but he takes the cellphone back.

“Uhh, nothing!” No, stupid idiot, he’s supposed to say he’s nervous.

“Your face is completely red,” Kaidoh says, as if this was as plain as day.

Momoshiro touches his cheeks, which are on _fire_ , damnit. “I ... I ... I came running all the way over here, you know, I’m still out of breath.” Okay, well there goes operation Tell Him You’re Nervous.

“You looked fine when you came here,” Kaidoh points out.

Momoshiro stomps his feet on the ground. “Shut up, you stupid snake.”

Kaidoh glares at him and crosses his arms. “You shut up, moron.”

“Don’t call me a moron, Mamushi!”

Kaidoh gets up this time, hissing. “Don’t call me Mamushi, moron!”

And after a week of awkwardness of this dating thing, they’re finally wrestling each other to the ground, punching each other, rolling over each other, pulling at their clothes (and hair), and Momoshiro’s queasiness and worries have all but faded away now. He might have lied just moments ago, but now he really is out of breath, and they both stop fighting and sit on the bench next to each other, taking in sharp and short breaths.

“This is all your fault, dumbass,” says Momoshiro.

“You started it, idiot,” replies Kaidoh.

And then Kaidoh’s pinky brushes against Momoshiro’s, and it sends a lightning bolt full of prickly and weird jumpy feelings down his body. Great, he’s completely aware of Kaidoh again, and his heart is thumping loudly against his chest, and he’s feeling all nervous and he just wants to roll around on the ground like a wuss. Let’s not forget his sweaty hands either. Just great.

The bus finally arrives, great timing. The bus stops in front of them and Kaidoh walks up, and shows his and Momoshiro’s bus pass to the bus driver, and he walks inside. Momoshiro swallows in anticipation, because he knows he’s going to have to sit next to Kaidoh. He walks inside as well, and follows Kaidoh all the way to the back (erhm, the back?), and sits next to him after shoving their bags underneath the seats.

Well, then, what now? Momoshiro is already on edge and jumpy again, and he’s huddled away from Kaidoh as much as possible, just to make sure their legs won’t accidentally touch. Or that Kaidoh can randomly grab his hand or something. No, this isn’t good, he can’t act like this. Come on, they’re supposed to be dating. People who date sit next to each other and laugh and touch and hold hands and Momoshiro’s cheeks heat up again. Okay, normal people, meaning not him, do that, so what is he supposed to do with Kaidoh?

What does he even want to do with Kaidoh?

Thinking about that makes him feel queasy and anxious, and his leg starts shaking in response to his nervousness. Stupid restless leg syndrome. Stupid Kaidoh.

“Don’t fall asleep on me again,” warns Kaidoh all of the sudden.

Even if he wanted to, Momoshiro is sure he’ll be too aware of Kaidoh to even close his eyes, let alone fall asleep. “Like I even want to,” he responds.

Kaidoh snorts, not believing that, and Momoshiro doesn’t either.

Momoshiro’s leg continues to shake.

“Stop that,” says Kaidoh.

“Stop what?”

“That, your leg.”

Momoshiro puts his hand down on his leg to stop it from shaking, but it’s not listening to him. “It’s not like I can control it,” he says irritated.

Kaidoh sighs and stares out the window again, but Momoshiro can tell that he’s paying attention to him, to his shaking leg which is annoying the crap out of him. A few more seconds pass, and he still hasn’t stopped, and Kaidoh huffs loudly, and then puts his hand on top of Momoshiro’s and squeezes it hard.

So hard that he’s cutting off the blood flow in his hand again, and it makes sweat start to ooze from his palm onto his thigh.

Oh hey, his leg stopped shaking.

Oh shit, he can’t feel his hand.

Momoshiro makes little noises of protest and uses his other hand to lamely pluck Kaidoh’s fingers off of his. Except of course, Kaidoh’s a freak with elephant strength, and Momoshiro is a wuss who wishes he could bang his head against the wall. Kaidoh squeezes even harder, and Momoshiro sucks in a breath and sits up straight and keeps still.

He ends up falling asleep on Kaidoh either way. At least he didn’t drool this time.

 

**oOo**

“Stop rubbing it already, fshuuuu.” Kaidoh puts his bag down in the corner of their room, irritated at Momoshiro.

Momoshiro gives him a dirty look and continues to rub his hand. “It’s your fault. You’ve got the grip of a fucking elephant. I thought it was going to die and fall off.”

Kaidoh hisses again, and his cheeks are slightly pink.

_Heh._

Momoshiro’s hands start to sweat.

_Fuck._

He wobbles a bit uncomfortably on his spot. So they arrived, and he fell asleep on Kaidoh’s shoulder, and Kaidoh never let go of his hand—and now he has no clue on what to do. What did they do last time? Oh right, they trained. Well, they’re not here for training at the moment.

“Wanna go eat?” That’s the first thing that pops up in his head. Food, he can deal a lot better with these jumpy feelings for Kaidoh when he’s eating.

Kaidoh’s already walking out of the door, and Momoshiro follows him like a lost puppy. They decide to go walk around the town and act as tourists, and visit some of the little food stands on the shopping street. There’s a nice little ramen shop that smells delicious, and Momoshiro hovers towards it like a bee claiming honey.

“Really?” asks Kaidoh as he looks at it questionably.

Momoshiro sits down on the little stool, then pats his hand on the other stool right next to him. Kaidoh obliges. They order two bowls of ramen, and Momoshiro happily scarfs it down his throat, anything is better than having to think of something to say to Kaidoh.

Wait, he hasn’t yet told him that he looks nice. Right, Eiji told him to, didn’t he? Momoshiro steals a sideways glance at Kaidoh, who is properly eating his ramen, by picking out all the vegetables first, and then slurping the liquid from the bowl. What to compliment him on ... uhh ... he’s wearing his red bandana today, accompanied by a black sleeveless shirt—he’s obsessed with sleeveless shirts—and just some plain white pants. He sort of looks like a gangster, almost, because he knows Kaidoh is actually a big whimp and is in love with cats and hits no one other than Momoshiro himself. No wait, he did punch someone else that one time ... hmm ... alright, maybe he is a gangster. No wait, he’s not supposed to be thinking about gangster Kaidoh!

Just compliment him already!

Uhh ... uhh ...

“You look hot.”

Momoshiro snorts and chokes on a noodle as he realizes what the hell he just said, and Kaidoh looks up from his bowl and gives him this incredulous, unbelieving look. Momoshiro hits his fist on his chest a few times to dislodge the noodle stuck in his throat and swallows it. Then he quickly tries to hand wave his compliment to save what is left of his dignity.

 “The sun, I mean. It’s shining directly on you,” he says. Kaidoh is indeed half sitting out in the sun, and half underneath the stall.

Kaidoh looks at the spot that’s under the sun, half his shoulder, then shrugs and goes back to sipping the soup from his bowl again.

Momoshiro wants to facepalm himself; great going, Momoshiro! That was the best compliment ever! Oh you fucking dumbass. Momoshiro asks for seconds and decides to not say anything anymore, in fear of screwing up again or saying something really embarrassing.

After eating their bowls of ramen, they wander around the shopping street and look at the little stalls with souvenir items on them. Kaidoh lingers around at one stall that has a lot of bandanas for sale. Momoshiro wonders if he should offer to buy one for him, they do that sort of stuff on a date right? Buy presents? Before he can even offer this generous idea of his, Kaidoh’s already seen handing over some money to the vendor for a shiny new black bandana. Well, fuck.

Momoshiro kicks some dirt on the street and quickly walks away from Kaidoh, to another stall with a lot of keychains. He looks at the collection, and then he sees the ugliest keychain in his life, and picks it up. It’s a ... well, Momoshiro is not quite sure what it is, but it sort of looks like Kaidoh. It’s round, not perfectly so, green, there’s some weird black hair at the top of it, and some googly eyes stuck on the front.

“What the hell is that,” says Kaidoh when he finally spots Momoshiro again.

Momoshiro shrugs, then dangles it in front of Kaidoh’s face. “I don’t know, but hey, it kind of looks just like you, don’t you think?”

“Asshole, what part of me looks alike?” Kaidoh says in an irritated voice.

Okay, he wasn’t really trying to insult Kaidoh or anything, especially since he called him ‘hot’ just a moment ago, so this was probably not a good idea. So he says nothing and puts the keychain back on the big rack. Kaidoh is already stalking away, his hands stuffed in his white pants—which don’t look that bad on him, actually. Now he’s feeling a bit plain with his boring yellow t-shirt and some blue shorts. Great, he knew he should have taken an extra hour to find better clothes to bring with him.

“Oh, you looking for something specific?” asks the vendor of the keychains. It’s an old lady, smiling friendly at him.

“Uhh,” says Momoshiro.

“Are you looking for something to give to your girlfriend?”

Momoshiro snorts, but his cheeks betray him and they turn red. “I don’t know.”

“Ahh, are you out on a date with her right now?” she asks with a wink of her eyes.

Momoshiro strains his neck a bit to see where Kaidoh is, and he’s at the next stall, looking at a collection of cat pictures. Of course. “Sort of.”

“Well then, how about this one?” she asks, and then plucks a keychain from the rack and hands it over to Momoshiro.

It’s a big red plastic heart that says ‘I LOVE YOU’ and now his cheeks _really_ betray him. He quickly puts it away. “Something a little ... less obvious than that?” he asks embarrassed. Not that he ‘loves’ Kaidoh or anything. Ew. No.

The woman hands him another keychain. This one is a cute little plastic white kitten, with huge anime eyes drawn on it. Momoshiro smiles; that’s perfect. “Yeah, I’ll take this one.” He pays her the measly 200 Yen for the keychain, and before he can leave, the vendor stops him and stuffs something else in his hands.

“This one’s for free—for young love!” she says and gives him another wink and goes back to her stall.

Momoshiro frowns and looks what’s inside of his hand. It’s a small blue plastic square, and Momoshiro immediately knows what it is and his face turns completely blank.

“Momoshiro, you done yet?” asks Kaidoh as he comes back to check up on Momoshiro.

Heat flashes onto his cheeks, and Momoshiro quickly stuffs the two objects into his pants and smiles widely at Kaidoh. “Hmmhmm,” he says, and wobbles away from the stall.

They spend the rest of their day looking at all the little stalls, and it’s not as awkward as he thought it would be. He still doesn’t know what to say, and insulting Kaidoh doesn’t seem to be a good option either, and when their hands accidentally bump into each other, he pulls it away as if he’s been burned. Fuck. Dating is really hard!

It’s getting late, so they decide to go back to the inn. Momoshiro sort of wants to go to the hot springs, and he sort of doesn’t, because then Kaidoh would join him, and that sort of freaks him out—especially since that old lady had to give him ... give him that thing! Honestly, what was she thinking? He stuffs the stupid objects in his bag when Kaidoh’s not paying attention.

Luckily, before there’s another awkward silence while Momoshiro ponders on whether to go to the hot springs or not, Kaidoh says he’s gonna go train and he’ll be back later. Momoshiro feels slightly relieved, and slightly irritated; does that snake ever think about anything other than training? He can’t even give up one measly day, what a training freak.

 

**oOo**

Momoshiro is soaking in the hot springs, without Kaidoh. Of course, there’s other guys in there, but they’re not Kaidoh and they don’t make him feel awkward and self-conscious. He relaxes in the hot water at his usual spot and reflects on what he’s done today.

He broke his phone yesterday. Then today he arrived late at the bus stop, and Kaidoh squeezed the shit out of his hand during the trip, and he fell asleep on him again. They ate some ramen and Momoshiro embarrassed himself by calling Kaidoh hot, and some old lady gave him a condom.

Ahh, today was just one big mess of awkwardness. Is dating really supposed to be this awkward? Or is it just him and Kaidoh? He wonders what he’s supposed to do to not be so awkward around him, but the epiphany never comes. And he can’t call Eiji for advice either, since he’s got no cellphone. Hmm. It’s getting kind of late, he’s been in the water for an hour and a half already. Is Kaidoh going to come in as well when he’s done training?

Soon, he’s alone in the hot springs again, sitting against the rocks and looking at the steam floating by. He feels dizzy, as usual, but he’s waiting for Kaidoh damnit. He has to come, even if it’s awkward and they’d be sort of naked together, he just has to come.

Momoshiro almost gets a heart attack when he hears a splash of water in the distance. “Kaidoh?” he calls out, since he can’t see through the thick steam—or maybe his eyes are just really cloudy. He hears a hiss coming from the steam, which makes the entire setting look ominous, like a horror movie, and Kaidoh is going to come and kill him or something, since he’s a gangster and all that.

Momoshiro pulls his legs up and makes sure his towel is covering his goods down there. Kaidoh finally walks into view, wading through the water and getting closer, and closer, and now Momoshiro is sweating even more and it’s not because of the hot water. He’s not wearing his bandana, and all he’s got is a small white towel wrapped around his waist, and Momoshiro tries hard not to look—don’t look damnit!

“How long have you been sitting there?” Kaidoh asks. Momoshiro wonders if he’s concerned about him.

“Since you left?” adds Momoshiro vaguely.

Kaidoh sits down next to Momoshiro, against the rocks, and Momoshiro slowly and sneakily inches away from him a bit, because he’s waaay too close for comfort. Damn, the awkward feelings come rushing back again, and they’re both silent once more. There he is, in the hot springs, alone with Kaidoh. Kaidoh, who he is supposed to be dating, but he can’t seem to do anything but feel awkward and say embarrassing things.

Momoshiro starts to whistle a tune, simply because it’s silent and he’s nervous, and this helps him calm down a bit. He quickly stops once he hears Kaidoh grunt in annoyance. What a prick. He splashes around some of the water with his wrinkly hands, and tries to think of something to say. Anything. Like, Kaidoh’s a training freak and he doesn’t know how to have fun, or that he bought him a stupid keychain, or maybe that his white pants looked good on him, or how that old lady gave him a condom. On second thought, maybe he should really just shut up.

Ahh, he feels lightheaded and nervous and awkward, and he wonders if Kaidoh does too. For ten whole minutes, they say nothing to each other, and there’s a thick tension in the air between them. Momoshiro swallows and starts to play with the water again, since there’s nothing else to do.

Kaidoh stands up, the water moving around him angrily and dripping from his body. “This is stupid,” he says bitterly.

Momoshiro looks up at him, and he doesn’t really know what to say, other than, “what?”

Kaidoh looks down at the stupid idiot. “This. Let’s stop it, it’s stupid.”

“Stop what?” Is he talking about what he thinks he’s talking about?

“Dating. If it’s like this, I’d rather not.” Kaidoh starts wading through the water to get away from Momoshiro.

His mouth falls open in surprise, and he’s shocked and hurt and sort of insulted. What the hell Kaidoh—he wanted to do it in the first place! He can’t just get up and leave when he feels like it. If anything, it should be Momoshiro who should get up and leave. And he does, he gets up after Kaidoh, but not to leave, but to pull him back into the water, and Kaidoh crashes against his chest and they both go underwater.

“Asshole!” says Kaidoh as he comes back up for air.

Momoshiro simply stares at Kaidoh through his wet and clingy hair. “Why? Why do you want to stop? I don’t get it.”

Kaidoh spits out some water. “It’s you. I can’t stand this awkwardness anymore. It’s not like you even like me, it’s pretty obvious you don’t, I don’t even know why you’re forcing yourself to do this in the first place, you fucking dumbass. So let’s stop.”

“But I ... but I ...”

“But you what,” presses Kaidoh.

Momoshiro throws his hands up in the air, some of the water splashing on Kaidoh’s face. “I don’t know! I don’t fucking know! What do you want from me?”

Kaidoh hisses at him. “To act normal again, stupid! When’s the last time we even fought together, huh?”

“Doesn’t this count?” says Momoshiro in a smartass tone.

“No, no it doesn’t.”

“Well, uhm—this morning! Yeah!”

“And then you got all awkward again.”

Momoshiro splashes some water in his face. “Well, I’m sorry! I don’t know what to do.”

“Act like you usually do!” hisses Kaidoh and he splashes water back at him. “It was fine before, and you didn’t even think we were dating back then ... this is stupid. I’d rather be fake dating than real dating, if it turns you into something like this!”

“Turn into what!” A bumbling, babbling nervous fool?

“Like you hate me!” he sputters.

Oh.

 _Oh_ , that might have come across that way.

Momoshiro sinks his face into the water and stares at Kaidoh with sad looking eyes. “I don’t hate you.” He sinks his face even deeper, until only his nose is above the water.

“Well, you certainly don’t like me,” he retorts.

Momoshiro doesn’t even know himself. This sort of thing just happened way too fast, and it still throws him off his game and he’s nervous and looking into Kaidoh’s scary eyes makes his brain turn into mush. It’s not like he hated it ... it’s just that he’s not used to it. He’s self-conscious, it’s awkward and new and weird, and he still only half gets that Kaidoh _likes_ him. If he likes him, why would he want to stop? Momoshiro, despite all those crazy and creepy crawling feelings he’s gotten the entire week, doesn’t want to stop. He blows a few pathetic bubbles under water, still looking into Kaidoh’s eyes.

Kaidoh sighs and runs his hand through his wet and dark hair. “So let’s stop.”

Momoshiro blows some more bubbles.

“We’ll just go back to normal. You can punch me as much as you like.”

He blows harder, and more bubbles surge up to the surface.

“Let’s just pretend this never happened in the first place.”

Momoshiro jumps out of the water, a thousand sparkling water droplets fly around him, and he grabs hold of Kaidoh’s arm. Their naked chests bump against each other, and his hand slides off of Kaidoh’s arm because it’s slippery. Then—something which he never thought he would do—leans in and quickly kisses Kaidoh on his lips. Except, Momoshiro sort of misses and kisses the corner of his mouth instead. He pulls away lightning fast and submerges himself in the water, blowing little bubbles again, trying to hide his extremely red face.

Kaidoh looks at him with shocked eyes; he’s temporarily stunned. That is, until one of Momoshiro’s water bubbles pops loudly, and he stumbles back a few steps, before slipping on one of the rocks and falling down into the water, their faces now at eye-level. Kaidoh stares back at Momoshiro, and then, just like him, lowers his face into the water and blows bubbles as well. They stay like that, for a while, simply blowing bubbles to each other back and forth, still staring into their eyes.

Kaidoh’s the first one to speak. “I said punch, not kiss. Idiot.” But he says it with cheeks so red, that it makes Momoshiro break into a goofy smile.

“As much as I like?” he asks.

This makes Kaidoh’s ears turn red as well, and he stares at Momoshiro with half closed eyes, and he slightly nods his head. Momoshiro moves forwards just a tiny little bit, even though his heart is pounding and he’s feeling really dizzy from the steam right now. He’s right in front of Kaidoh’s face, his very red face, though he’s sure he doesn’t look any better himself.

“Just to clarify—I don’t hate you,” says Momoshiro.

Kaidoh blinks slowly, and he leans closer to him. “I don’t hate you too.”

Their foreheads are now touching, and each of them is taking deep and slow breaths. He’s feeling so dizzy right now; Kaidoh’s face is so close and his breath is engulfing him. Oh, and there’s the steam of course. Steam. Steamy. Steamylicious. And Kaidoh’s lips, which are getting closer, and closer, and the world is spinning and _oooh pretty lights_.

Momoshiro blacks out.

 

**oOo**

Momoshiro wakes up in his futon again. The first thing he does is lift it up and check to see if he’s naked; he’s not, he’s wearing his shorts and a shirt, and wow Kaidoh was nice enough to do that. Wait, Kaidoh did it? That’s a little ... embarrassing.

“Finally awake?” asks Kaidoh, who’s sitting on his own futon next to him.

“Ahh, I passed out again, didn’t I?”

“Yes. You’re an idiot.”

Momoshiro huffs indignantly. He sits up straight and looks at Kaidoh. Then he remembers what he did to him moments before he passed out and turns pink.

“T-thanks for dressing me this time,” he says sheepishly.

“Don’t count on it again,” says Kaidoh.

Momoshiro stares at his fingers, which he’s fumbling around with. “So uhm. Are we still dating?” he asks, a bit embarrassed and also confused. His cheeks are still sporting a nice pink blush.

“I don’t know, do you want to?” asks Kaidoh.

“Yeah, uhm, I think so.”

“Okay then.”

Momoshiro shifts awkwardly on his futon; so the awkwardness is still back. Remembering what Kaidoh said before, to just act like himself, he punches Kaidoh’s arm. Kaidoh gives him this undignified look, but then smirks and punches him back. Heh. Alright, he can deal with this.

“Right. I found something,” says Kaidoh, and he turns his head away from Momoshiro.

“Hm?”

“As I was looking through your bag for your clothes, I found this.” Kaidoh flings something onto Momoshiro’s lap.

It’s a blue plastic square; there’s a clear circle shape in the middle of it. Momoshiro turns completely red as he remembers stuffing it into his bag.

“What the hell were you planning?” asks Kaidoh, his face as embarrassed as his.

“Well, you see, funny story actually ...”


End file.
